I am slowly getting used to diving, shooting and running back up (there's never enough boost though.) I have stalled a P-23 doing this now. It's an odd playstyle, I haven't formed an opinion yet. I usually get 0 kills 3-4 assists doing this, sometimes get a kill when I can find a weak one or two. If I spot a tail and clear it, I'll go to the deck to finish him off because I know I'll have at least one temporary wingman to help, then I try and get back up to altitude before anyone notices me.

The only thing I find handicapping with this is, not enough boost, and not enough firepower to make dents in tougher planes on passes like that. Maybe a heavy fighter is my style with more speed, more boost and bigger guns?

*edit* Ok, I looked at Warchyld's videos and damn...I was never getting that kind of altitude. I was using boost to climb but not even at a 40 degree angle up to maybe 1200 feet. Logging in to try some of this, I didn't realize it was that extreme, that looks fun as hell.

It's a tough nut to crack. The German Ar-80 at Tier 3, is a good plane to start practicing with, because the next plane in line is the Bf-109B, which owns BnZ among light fighters at Tier 4. Of course, the heavy fighters are tailor made for BnZ, but if you like to fly light fighters, then stick with the Russian and Japanese planes for TnB, and go German or American for BnZ.

Now about your boost problems. I have always been notorious for using too much boost, and not having enough in reserve. Use your boost to get as much altitude as you can as soon as the timer starts. Once there, lay off the boost and go into a low angle climb, or even level out. You can cool down your boost quicker by using the "S" key to chop your throttle (I usually go into about a 5 degree dive at this point so as not to lose too much speed).

Here's the key: Altitude = Energy. You can usually get back into a pretty decent climb without using your boost by turning that speed you gained from your dive back into altitude. Use your boost only when regaining altitude, or when extending an exit in the horizontal. My "Beginner's Guide to the Bf-109B" or "The Hawk Strikes" (P-36), are both excellent examples of how to BnZ effectively against much more maneuverable aircraft.

I am actually liking the firepower of the AO-192, it stalls REALLY easily though. I just ran a quick few battles, totally got spanked on one by a guy who killed 9. The other few I got one kill each with 1-3 assists and my gun accuracy went up to nearly 30% from 15 or so. It's growing on me, I just need to adjust my top hat so I can camera down and not have to dive to find a target. BnZ is a much more disciplined chess-match kind of game, not a hair-raising constant action turn fight, it suits me I think. One of the kills doesn't count, a 60 hp p-12 attacked me head on. It was kind of like that scene in Indiana Jones where the sword guy does all that fancy stuff and Indie shrugs and pulls out a revolver and shoots him.

Hello everyone, my first post. I started this game several days ago and am hooked so far. I played a pilot/shipwright in Star Wars Galaxies and loved the constant ship-tweaking and playing strengths and weaknesses against each other. Most of all, I liked the idea that it was a never-ending learning path and the rush of adrenaline when being approached by a top pilot.

I am slowly figuring out the basics here. At first I was probably like many others and "looking for the best plane." I quickly realized there is no "best" plane, but maybe there is a plane that suits a particular individual best. Now I am trying to figure out what that is for me. I am heavily leaning towards a fighter, specifically right now I like the Curtis P-23 and the F3F Grumman. Tried a tier 2 German plane very similar to the P-23...also tried up to Tier 4 in each of those trees but kept gravitating back to the highest turning/maneuverability even though firepower lacked a bit.

The F3F seemed to hit the hardest with all upgrades, and I got a pair of 6-kill battles. It turns well also. I'm not really sure which line I will go with, but I don't want to go past Tier 4 for awhile, would like to learn as much as I can before moving up.

Looking at the end of the tiers to try and decide on which tree, I see the P-51 has high air speed/maneuverability, as I recall the end tier of the F3F line at higher levels isn't terribly maneuverable(past Corsair) and I have no desire to ever deal with bombs or missiles. I prefer constant action dog-fighting.

It's challenging to resist the urge to get into a turning fight with a less maneuverable aircraft and instead jump from target to target saving teammates (although I only recently realized many are bots.) It also took me 2 days to figure out that what i was watching after I crashed was other players/bots.

I think rather than try and min/max think on the stats of a plane, I can fairly accurately depict my play style and ask for the veterans help in choosing a tree?

My style is look for targets of opportunity, try to fly as precisely and disciplined as I can in a fast and agile plane. I'd ideally find a "clan" and focus on group efforts and strategy. I'd only get a kill or two per battle at most, but would take shots at most of the planes by clearing tails and hitting and running, only getting into a prolonged turn fight with a lesser plane at a safe distance from a furball. I'd use the clouds and altitude, maintain distance when possible.

I think that covers it. I have NO interest in a ground attack plane. I am sure of that. Any thoughts from the vets? And how do I find a good clan? It seems to me the few I have looked at require "experienced" pilots of thousands of battles.

Thanks.

Hi there, I am new and not very good but i purchased the Ki-43-IC and really appreciate the dogfight'ability of this Tier IV plane.

At tier 4 you can enjoy the TnB. Considr learning BnZ. 110B is ideal at tier 4, 109b can do it as good, 110E and 109E at tier 5 in adition to p38. Just try it. I know you will enjoy it too. Learn all you can at lower tiers. You will need when you confront pros.

I'd like you to tell about Thunderbolts that I currently play and like them very much. To me they are very good, they are usually the fastest planes, and they still turn better than heavy fighters. They also have good firepower and altitude (altitude range is very good too). I sold P-40 and bought XP-44 Rocket. Mustangs line are also good, but they lack firepower compared to others.

Focke-Wulf have cannons and high speed but at tier 5 and 6 careful engine and speed management required because they almost can't turn and lose speed fast.

Bf-109 line are high altitude fighters, they have cannons and machine guns, don't have a lot of hit points and slower than American planes, but turn better and very small (hard to hit by enemies).

Didn't play a lot in Corsair multi-role line - they have medium altitude and good firepower and speed.

Lagg-3 and La-5 - also medium altitude, good turning; kind of like Corsair line - good armanent, but worse in my opinion, didn't play it enough. Got spoiled by Thunderbolts. Medium altitude planes (Spitfire too) currently suffer from Ki line of Japanese. If Ki survives long enough it can destroy any medium turn fighter in my opinion. However, Ki line have lowest hit points and average guns.

Turning planes like Japanese and Russian at higher tiers are very hard to survive. They don't have a lot of hit points and their guns are combinations of cannons and machine guns - this makes it hard to aim/hit. Yak multi-role (yak-7-9) line can be fun, because they have a big cannon- it's hard to hit anything though.

Heavy fighters are the most powerful planes in the game. They have speed, firepower and altitude. However they are big and have large turn radius. They are not easy to play. But they can win against several planes if pilot knows what to do. They require a good pilot. Flight with two of these on one team with good pilots can turn the game to the victory.

If I play one type of plane very long and switch to another one I lose very fast. I get used to the plane abilities, so to play in another plane you need to get used to it.